Generic Company Place Holder CrystalDiskInfo

Note: This review addresses v3.03 of the
software.

CrystalDiskInfo is a utility program which tells you just about
everything about the hardware performance of your hard
disk--including how likely it is to stop performing in the near
future. It uses the S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and
Reporting Technology) protocol, which is included in most hard
disks likely to be found in recent systems, to tell you what's
going on with your discs. This includes such details as current
drive temperature, number of failed read or write attempts, how
long the drive has been running and how often it's been started and
stopped, and so on. As various factors approach thresholds of
danger, CrystalDiskInfo will alert you, letting you know it's time
to make backups while you still can. Generally, once a drive starts
to die, it will tumble downhill fast, so if you begin seeing an
uptick in failure rates, it's often best to assume the worst.

CrystalDiskInfo uses a straightforward interface, showing all of
the data it can retrieve from each drive on your system. (Different
drives implement S.M.A.R.T. in different ways and not every drive
tracks or reports every possible value.) There aren't a lot of
options or settings or deep drill-downs--what you see is pretty
much what you get. There also isn't any explanation of what the
particular values mean--some are self-evident, such as temperature,
but others, such as "Current Pending Sector Count", are not things
most computer users, even fairly sophisticated ones, are likely to
know offhand. CrystalDiskInfo's "documentation" on S.M.A.R.T. is a
link to Wikipedia.

A free utility that can give you a heads-up when your disk
begins to fail is certainly worth the price. It should be noted,
however, that while S.M.A.R.T. can predict some disk failures,
others can come very suddenly. There is no substitute for regular
backups.

--Ian Harac

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